Australian-based lithium-boron mine developer Global Geoscience Ltd reports that the initial mining study confirms that the large, shallow Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron deposit in Nevada, USA is amenable to low-cost open pit mining at rates of 2 to 4 Mt/y.

This is based on only the high-grade (lithium-boron) component of the South Basin Resource . The Resource is likely to increase substantially with additional drilling outside of the current Resource at both South Basin and North Basin

A two stage development being considered:

o             A 2Mt/y starter pit (constrained) based on 26Mt Resource that may be eligible for fast-track permitting due to its small footprint

o             A large, unconstrained pit based on 87 Mt Resource and sufficient to support 4 Mt/y operation

The mining study provides the basis for estimating the cost of feed to the processing plant and is an integral part of the PFS.       Together with recently announced favourable heap leach results, the mining study supports the potential for low capital and operating costs for the mining and acid-leaching stages of the project.